No. 25 SCU Volleyball falls in season opener to No. 9 UCLA

Honolulu, Hawaii - Traveling to Hawaii with 11 underclassmen, No. 25 Santa Clara showed promise Friday night in the first match of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center vs. No. 9 UCLA, but fell in straight sets, 3-0, with set scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-18.

The Bronco volleyball team will take on host No. 7 Hawaii Saturday night at 10 pm Pacific. The Rainbow Wahine came out strong Friday night and never looked back, beating Western Michigan 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 in front of 5,995 fans.

"We were really nervous and uncomfortable and never able to settle into the match vs. UCLA," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "Our team kept going in the right direction. We know they made some young mistakes and have a ways to go, but we kept battling. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we'll play better against Hawaii."

UCLA was led by freshman setter Lauren Cook, who had 27 assists, four kills, two aces and four blocks. The Bruins hit .262 in the match with six aces and eight total team blocks.

Wallace applauded the energy of sophomore Libby Morrison who came off the bench to play well in game two.

"Libby brought some enthusiasm to the floor," said Wallace. "Emily Burke and Kayla Lommori played really well in the 6-2 package. Kayla hit .333 and was very aggressive. We also had some good stuff tonight from Emily.

"Right now we are young team working to find our way against a good UCLA team who started the preseason in the top 10," said Wallace. "We know we aren't going to base our season on this match tonight. We want to get better every day and this is a step in that direction."

With the Broncos and the Bruins tied up at five and six in the first game, UCLA went 7-1 run that saw UCLA take a 13-7 advantage. Santa Clara fought hard when down 21-14 to score seven of the next 10 points, but UCLA finished off the set with a 25-21 score. Santa Clara hit .121 to UCLA's own .212 in the first game.

Santa Clara led to open the second set, but the Bruins quickly took control and led 16-5, pushing their lead to 19-7 momentarily. Santa Clara got within striking distance at 22-15, but UCLA scored the last three of four points to win the set. Santa Clara hit .185 to the Bruins own .286 hitting percentage.

The two teams battled in the early going in game three with the Bruins taking a 9-7 lead, and never relinquished it, taking a 20-13 lead. Santa Clara again came within striking distance at 20-17 with a late rally. SCU held the Bruins off of match point once, before UCLA finished off the match with a 25-18 win in game three. Santa Clara hit .148 to the Bruins own .308.